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Advertisment and Banner Rotation.

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Advertisment and Banner Rotation.
Hello,

Let me start by saying that if you can run it on my server, you can run it anywhere.

I searched the forum but didn't find this suggetion, none the less, I'm sorry if this has been covered before.

I'm really just a novice in Perl but I've downloaded several different scripts for several different purposes and none have been as easy to setup, modify, customize, maintain, and use as the GT scripts. Even the coding is so neatly arranged that it makes modifying easy even for amatures.

Obviously GT has a class A sever with all of the options, but it seems that the programing must be done on some dinosaur from the 80's. Otherwise how could anyone get it right for anyone's use so easily. My Point:
GT scripts are light and easy to manage but are full featured!

I know that database type scripts are the specialty of GT but how about trying out a banner/advertisment program. There are several out there allready but most are clumsy, difficult to setup, stripped down, have too many server requirements, or just don't do the desired job.
Few have coherent documentation and most give little non-commercial support like forums and FAQ's.

As GT always gets it right and in a way that is open to suggetion (modification), I thought that GT would make a great script for advertising.

The way I see it, GT has four great things going for it.
1. The scripts by themselves are top notch and need no modification to do most jobs.
2. Try it before you buy it gives new users a chance to determine if this really is the program they need. (usually is)
3. The forum is easy to use with plenty of knowledgable member more than willing to help out.
4. The resouce area with great Mods and alternate templates free for the taking (credit should be given somewhere) give the scripts unlimited possibilities.

So I believe that a banner rotation script by GT would be very popular though I think that since this would be a commercial script bt definition, an expiration should be implemented to remind users to register the script.
beetlemanTongue

Marcus L. Griswold
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Re: [beetleman] Advertisment and Banner Rotation. In reply to
Hi,

Thanks for your kind comments.

We've investigated perhaps writing a banner management script, but unfortunately, we have decided that there are quite a few factors that preclude us undertaking such an endeavour.

One of the problems is that it's a crowded market, with many free scripts and many very reasonably priced scripts as well. Programs like Adcycle and Advertpro are powerful and full-featured, and we decided that it's a better proposition at this point in time to build plugins to those programs rather than write our own.

Perhaps one day when the days get longer and humans don't need as much sleep as they do now, we might consider writing one, or perhaps when our community scripts get to a point where it justifies us writing our own, we will. But at this moment, it's quite an undertaking and would require resources we simply don't have at this time.

However, thank you again for your kind comments about our scripts and we are pleased that you think so highly of them.

Jack.
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Re: [JackOng] Advertisment and Banner Rotation. In reply to
I agree with you that the banner advertisement market is fairly crowded - however I believe that the forum software market is even more crowded then the banner advertisement market...

If you don't want to make a banner rotation system for that reason, what was the reasoning behind making G-Forum? I have to admit I was really suprised when GT released a forum package, as there are so many alternatives already out.


Cheers,
Michael Bray
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Re: [Michael_Bray] Advertisment and Banner Rotation. In reply to
Hi Michael,

Gossamer Forum is key to Gossamer Community, it's like the Gateway if you will, for users wanting to be a part of a community website. Banner Management is quite separate from the user database of a website, it manages an almost entirely separate part of the whole. In the future, when Gossamer Community makes its debut, all of our programs will be able to use the same userdatabase, and if we had to use someone elses' forum to complete the circle, it would have been a nightmare.

Jack.
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Re: [Michael_Bray] Advertisment and Banner Rotation. In reply to
Hi,

The other factor is that we have little experience with banners. There is a whole new world of language and terminolgy you need to learn to build a banner program. Also, we have a successful partnership with two great banner programs already, so there is not much incentive there.

As for the forum, it's typically the cornerstone to any community site, and as we build together Links SQL, Gossamer Mail, and our other products, it became essential to have our own forum. Partnering with existing forums didn't turn out to be a viable option, so we created our own.

Cheers,

Alex
--
Gossamer Threads Inc.
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Re: [Alex] Advertisment and Banner Rotation. In reply to
Wow,

I didn't realize the can of worms I was opening. I realize that Ad programs are a lot different than the type of work GT normally does. Most of your scripts are direct database manipulation programs. Where as banner programs rely less on DB and more on dynamic I/O. I thought I'd offer the suggestion anyhow.

As for the forum, the Gossamer Forum is a product designed to give GT a way of interacting with its customers and poteintial customers. In a world where people like ourselves can get something to work but have a hard time marketing the end product, GT has managed both. The forum was built as I understand it to aid GT in it's creation of new scripts and as a general support system for we, the users. Fortunatly, the forum is so good that it is a marketable product as well. I congratulate GT not only for their foresight in building the forum but also making it availible for purchase for use on other sights.

So, the forum product is realy just a pleasent by-product of the forum area.


beetlemanTongue

Marcus L. Griswold